Triblock‐Terpolymer‐Directed Self‐Assembly of Mesoporous TiO₂: High‐Performance Photoanodes for Solid‐State Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

We present a new self-assembly platform for the fast and straightforward synthesis of bicontinuous, mesoporous TiO 2 films, based on the triblock terpolymer poly(isoprene-b-styrene-b-ethylene oxide). This new material allows the co-assembly of the metal oxide as a fully interconnected minority phase which results in a highly porous photoanode with strong advantages over the state-of-the-art nanoparticle based photoanodes employed in solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC). Devices fabricated through this triblock terpolymer route exhibit a high availability of sub-bandgap states distributed in a narrow and low enough energy band, which maximizes photoinduced charge generation from a state-of-the-art organic dye, C220. As a consequence, the co-assembled mesoporous metal oxide system outperformed the conventional nanoparticle based electrodes fabricated and tested under the same conditions, exhibiting solar power conversion efficiencies of over 5%.

Oxygen vacancies and interfaces enhancing photocatalytic hydrogen production in mesoporous CNT/TiO2 hybrids

“…These defects are likely to involve shar- ing of oxygen at the interfaces between TiO 2 nanocrystals and the TiO 2 /CNT interface. As such, they can be expected to create interbandgap energy levels in the system, similar to those observed in bicontinuous mesoporous TiO 2 self-assembled from block copolymers [33]. Photoluminescence (PL) observed in the range 2-3 eV corresponding to emission of excitons associated to surface oxygen vacancies and defects [34][35][36][37] confirms this to be the case (see Fig.…”

Optical Properties of Gyroid Structured Materials: From Photonic Crystals to Metamaterials

“…[ 59,[100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111][112][113][114][115][116][117][118][119] In addition to a high refractive index, the chosen inorganic material should have high optical transmission (i.e. [ 59,[100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111][112][113][114][115][116][117][118][119] In addition to a high refractive index, the chosen inorganic material should have high optical transmission (i.e.…”

Hierarchical Oriented Anatase TiO2 Nanostructure arrays on Flexible Substrate for Efficient Dye-sensitized Solar Cells

“…Since the pioneering report of Grätzel in 1991, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are generally recognized as one of the most promising alternatives to conventional p-n junction photovoltaic devices1. Subsequently, extensive researches have been conducted due to their low cost (relatively inexpensive raw materials and manufacturing processes), facile fabrication process (environmental friendly), stable photovoltaic properties as well as outstanding photoelectrical conversion efficiency234. Currently, the highest power conversion efficiency up to 12% has been achieved for DSSCs based on zinc porphyrin sensitizer, Co(II/III)tris(bipyridyl) based redox electrolyte and TiO 2 nanoparticle photoanode5.…”